Russell Crowe Biography

Russell Crowe is a New Zealand born film actor, producer and musician based in Australia and the U. S. This biography provides detailed information on his childhood, life, career, achievements, interesting facts and timeline.

Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealand film actor, producer and musician. He is mostly based in Australia and America, and became famous worldwide with perhaps the most brilliant film of his career, ‘The Gladiator’, for which he was honored with an Academy Award. Crowe started his acting career when he was young and left New Zealand, where he was born and brought up, for Australia. There he first started to appear in small roles on the television and later ventured into the Australian feature films. But his position as an A-list Hollywood celebrity quickly escalated when he did movies like, ‘Gladiator’, ‘A Beautiful Mind’, ‘American Gangster’, etc. He is not just an actor but also a musician of great talent and has been associated with many Australian and Canadian bands. He starred and sang as ‘Javert’ in the British-American epic adventure movie by Ridley Scott, ‘Les Miserables’. For his exceptional service to Australian society and Australian film production, Crowe has been honored with the Australian Centenary Medal by the Australian government.

Russell Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne and John Alexander Crowe on 7 April 1964. His father was a hotel manager and movie set caterer and his mother was also in the catering business.

At the age of 4, Crowe moved to Australia with his family. He attended Sydney Boys High School and was involved in acting from a very young age. He appeared in TV series like, ‘Spyforce’, ‘The Young Doctors’, etc.

He and his family again moved back to New Zealand when Crowe was 14. He continued his secondary education at the Mount Roskill Grammar School in New Zealand, but he soon dropped out to pursue acting professionally.

In the early 1980s, Crowe aspired to become a musician and made stage performances as ‘Russ Le Roq’. He released many singles like, ‘I Just Want to Be Like Marlon Brando’ and in 1984 performed at ‘The Venue’, Auckland.

At 21, Crowe returned to Australia to study at National Institute of Dramatic Art but later dropped the idea. In 1986, he was hired for the role of ‘Eddie/ Dr Scott’ in the ‘The Rocky Horror Show’.

In 1988, Crowe secured the role of ‘Mickey’ in the Australian production of ‘Blood Brothers’. In the same year, he was also cast as ‘Johnny’ in the stage musical ‘Bad Boy Johnny and the Prophets of Doom’.

After this, he did Australian television for some time and briefly appeared in series like, ‘Neighbors’, ‘Living with the Law’, etc. and in 1990, he was cast in his first feature film, ‘The Crossing’ by Faith Martin.

Around the same time, he also started shooting for another film titled ‘Blood Oath’ (aka Prisoners of the Sun) and the film released a month earlier than ‘The Crossing’.

Crowe did some television in 1992 and appeared in the second series of ‘Police Rescue’. He also starred in ‘Romper Stomper’, for which he won an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award in the category of ‘Best Actor’.

In 1995, Crowe moved to the American films and starred with Denzel Washington in the sci-fi, ‘Virtuosity’. He also did another movie in—‘The Quick and the Dead’ with already established stars like Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone and Leonardo DiCaprio.

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His next venture was ‘The Insider’ in 1997, starring Al Pacino. The movie was very well received by the critics and Crowe earned his first Academy Award nomination in the category of ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’.

Year 2000 was a great turning point for Crowe as he starred in the British-American epic historical drama ‘Gladiator’, which was directed by Ridley Scott. He received his first Academy Award in the category of ‘Best Actor’ for the movie.

In the following year, Crowe was honored with many esteemed awards in the category of ‘Best Actor’ for ‘A Beautiful Mind’. The movie is based on the life of Nobel laureate ‘John Nash’.

Mid-2000s saw Crowe in variety of movies—‘Master and Commander’ (2003)’, a epic historical drama, ‘Cinderella Man (2005)’, a drama film based on the life of James J. Braddock, and another Ridley Scott movie, ‘A Good Year (2006)’.

In 2007, being Scott’s favorite, Crowe was cast in another one of his projects—‘American Gangster’. He starred in the movie along with Denzel Washington - the biographical drama crime film won over the critics with its brilliant story and acting.

In recent years, Crowe has acted in movies like, ‘Body of Lies (2008)’, ‘Robin Hood (2010)’, which is a British-American epic adventure movie by Scott, ‘Les Miserables (2012) and superhero film ‘Man of Steel (2013)’.

Movies that are considered to have escalated Crowe’s career in Hollywood are ‘Gladiator (2000)’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind (2001)’. Both the movies earned him accolades like Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, back to back.

Crowe has earned honors like: AFI, Oscar for ‘Gladiator’, and BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘A Beautiful Mind’. He has also been honored with the Centenary Medal for ‘service to Australian society and Australian film production’.

Crowe got married to Australian singer Danielle Spencer in 2003, after having an on and off relationship with her since 1989. The couple has two sons together: Charles Spencer Crowe and Tennyson Spencer Crowe. In 2012, it was reported that Crowe and Spencer had separated.

He was involved in a brief romantic affair with the American actress Meg Ryan in 2000.

He lives in Australia but in spite of living for the most of his adult life in the country, this actor has been denied Australian citizenship twice on the grounds that he had spent too much time in other countries.

Crowe has had an expansive music career alongside his acting career. He was a part of the bands ‘Roman Antix’ and ’30 Odd Foot of Grunts’ and has officially released albums like, ‘The Photograph Kills EP’, ‘Gaslight’, ‘Bastard Life or Clarity’.

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In the late ‘2000s, Crowe got associated with the Canadian band, ‘The Ordinary Fear of God’ and released albums like, ‘My Hand, My Heart’ and ‘The Crowe/Doyle Songbook Vol III’.

He made a considerable amount of donation to a Jewish elementary school while filming for ‘Cinderella Man’.

This Oscar winning actor was reportedly under threat from Al-Qaeda in 2001.

Crowe appeared in a series of special edition postage stamps called ‘Legends of the Screen’, featuring Australian actors in 2009.

This famous actor is a known sports fan and has been a supporter of the rugby league football team the South Sydney Rabbitohs, since childhood.

He is a cousin of former New Zealand cricket captains Martin Crowe and Jeff Crowe.